Pacific Paddler magazine - June 2011 - (Page 28)

P r i m o B oys w i l d a d ve n tur e It all happened mid-week leading up to the O'ahu championships and Big Island's Keokea race. Being that the 1-man season was in full swing and the trade winds were finally here and pushing at good rate, the excitement was high. Some of us were pondering going off-island for one of the races and a couple of the guys were feeling good on the idea of an on island adventure here on Maui. By Thursday we were all on the same page. Nu'u! Nu'u Landing is located on the southeast coast of Maui in a area called Kaupo. The coastline is rugged and has access for a 16 mile stretch. The water outside Kaupo is the famed Alenuihana Channel, notorious for it's large water and high winds. All the settings for a great disaster or the downhill run of your life. Mael and Kekoa had done the run before, but Tyson, Felipe, and myself were still virgins to the idea. Wind was on and we were going! The excitement was in full swing on the drive out. From the road, 1,500 feet above sea level, you could see monster white caps and large lines pushing down the channel. "Ho Bu!" was all we could say. To be honest, I think we were just trying to stay on a positive mind set being that we were witnessing the looks of angry beauty. We check the launch site at Kaupo Church, but it was too hairy, so we back stepped about two miles to Nu'u Landing. Nu'u has a point that runs a couple hundred yards out so the launching is very Primo Boys on the run: Kai Bartlett, Kekoa Cramer, Mael Carey, Tyson Kubo and Felipe Gomes protected from the elements that lay ahead. I can't tell you how windy it was, mph wise, but I can say it was nuking! We had made a plan, on the way out, to start easy and work into the run, stay together for an hour and then push it to the end. Well, this system worked for about 15 minutes or so, and then we were slowly drifting apart. Once I knew it, I was on my own and wondering if the rest of the guys were in the same shoes, later come to find out that they had actually paired up; Kekoa and Felipe grouped together and Mael and Tyson paired up. The water was so crazy that you had about 100 yards of visibility of the other guys. Beyond that, there was too much going on. Me, I was on my own having an extreme Zen Big Bumps. As we got 30 minutes into the run, it was on and there was no room for error. I kept thinking of pairing up with one of the guys as well, but figured it would be more dangerous to stop, so I just kept chasing stuff. Rain and higher winds came through and turned the ocean more angry, but the distraction of a large Mahi Mahi settled my spirits. As we approached the area of Kanaio, the first place in 16 miles where we could land in case of emergency, we all felt more secure about ourselves out there. Land was close enough, and the danger was gone from our thoughts to some degree. At this point of the run, the wind was starting to blow at impressive speeds. From the south end of Kanaio to the Makena side of La Perouse Bay, the wind was blowing so hard that the ocean was white. I've never seen anything like this before. There weren't even white caps, the wind was blowing the top foot off the waves... Impressive to see. We finished our run at Big Beach (Makena Beach). We waited for everyone to show up before heading in to the beach. We were all so pumped on what we just went through that we went off for 10 minutes about the run, just sitting there in the water and then for another 15 minutes once we were on the beach. People were looking at us with strange faces. We were so fired up, we had to go celebrate! We went off to a friend's restaurant, Pita Paradise in Wailea, to have some beers and great Greek food to maintain our Spartan feeling. This, by far, was one of the heaviest runs and ocean that I've been in, and by far the fastest. We did 20.4 miles in just about two hours. Kekoa's average speed, with four minutes of standstill, was over 10mph... She Boogie!! Kai Bartlett Sorry we don't have pictures of the actual run for people to see, but all the captains we knew would take their boat up that coast that day. They said it was too crazy. 28 pacific paddler June 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pacific Paddler magazine - June 2011

Contents
Kauai World Challenge
Molo Solo
Molokai Relay
Q&A with Kai Bartlett
Kala'iomalulani
OluKai Ho’olaule’a
Battle of the Paddle
SCORA's safety net
Primo Boys wild adventure
Suncare and UV Protection
Got lactate?
Maui to Molokai
Eono Hoe
Calendar
Tavaru Sailing Canoe voyage

Pacific Paddler magazine - June 2011